The Rumble Crew Squad

“It’ll be the best time of your life.” Mateo said.

“Hey, quit your lyin’. Keep lying and a dragon will take you away.” I replied as a joke.

“No dragon’s taking me or anypony. Plus, that’s a damn foals tale. Told to keep us from lying when young. No parents, no more fantasy tales. Plus, no dragon is going to hunt you down for lying anyways.” Mateo said.

“All they’re going to do is hunt you down to eat you. NOW that’s not a foals tale. Truth. Saw it happen to a bud of mine.” Rostislav said.

“Fuckin’ no way.” Mateo said.

“Damn truth! He was talking about how easy basic was going to be and the damn thing came outta nowhere and swept him off his own four hoofs. BAMB! Just like that.” Rostislav said with a serious tone while smacking two hoofs together.

Me and Nihal laughed our asses off but Mateo just looked at Rostislav with that WTF face, “MAN! I fucking knew you were lying. Ain’t none of y’all ever even seen a dragon before.” We had all then calmed down from the joke before Mateo continued, “But it’s true! Basic will be the best time of your military career! I heard Luna might come bless your training camp before you begin as well.”

“Dude, it’s still hard to believe. Everything I’ve heard has made it sound like it’ll be the WORST time of your life. Constant training, constantly being yelled out. Strict rules and orders you gotta follow at all time. Heard it from my older bro. Said it was the worst thing he ever did. AND to make it worse, it’s apparently gotten even harder since he did it. They started making the training harder and more grueling since the attack on Canterlot.” Nihal said.

“If that’s all true, we only got eight hours before our basic begins and I haven’t seen any sign of Luna popin’ up to give us a blessing, so you better not be lying your ass off Matt.” I said looking at him.

“Look, you just have to stay positive. You stay positive and maybe even Celestial herself will show up! No way to know unless you believe in it!” Mateo said.

“I only believe in that damn dragon taking off with your ass. I’m off to bed guys. See your asses in hell tomorrow.” Nihal said before disappearing into his bed. He was bunked above me. Rostislav was on the top bunk next to us with Mateo below him.

“Aww come on Ni! Not even a good night kiss?” Mateo asked.

“Fuck you.” Nihal answered without showing himself.

“Probably best. They did say it’d be a tiring day tomorrow.” I said.

“Tiring day? The entirety of basic is going to be tiring.” Rostislav said.

“Choose the wrong job then if you didn’t want tiring.” I replied. I was getting positioned to go to sleep. I didn’t hear anypony else say anything. Everpony else was asleep or quietly talking to each other at this point. All of them would be asleep soon if they knew what was best. I eventually fell asleep, it wasn’t that good of sleep though, first night in a new bed was never a comfortable sleep but I managed.

I awoke to a new day. Back in my own room in my own bed. I looked around and yawned before getting up and stretching.

I got ready for the day, showering last before heading out. I got in my car and drove to downtown in Hoof city, to where the therapy took place. It had been two weeks again so here I was.

I trotted in and looked at the counter, it was the same pony as the first time again. I smiled and she said, “Welcome back! If you don’t need anything from the front desk you can head back into room five. The therapist will be right in.”

I nodded at her and went into the back. I found room five and went in. I waited about a minute this time before the therapist came in. It all went the same as last time.

“So… without talking about anything classified, I uhh, when we assaulted Acornage city, to retake it once we pushed the Changelings back, I thought a lot about Mateo and Ilja. It had been years since that happened and so much had changed, with, me and the whole world, but during the entire time, I started to think about my reason for fighting. What drove me for that battle. I was being fueled by the death of Mateo and Ilja. Did I fight in that battle for the wrong reasons?

Like, there were a few ponies during that first day that we left behind to just die, or not even rescue to see if they were alive. I didn’t even care about those ponies, but Mateo and Ilja, I knew them, it meant something to me, but I still didn’t even try to help them… I couldn’t help them. But I just kept thinking about the reason why I was fighting. Wasn’t it supposed to be for protecting Equestria and our homes? All the other ponies who were fighting and those who couldn’t?

I didn’t though, I did it for revenge for Mateo and Ilja.

Was that wrong?”

“No, Jurek. You didn’t fight for the wrong thing. You fought for the right thing. Your own thing. Your own reasons came first before Equestria. As long as whatever reason you gave yourself, helped aid Equestria, then whatever you chose to motivate yourself to fight for was worth it. Even if it was for revenge, even if only temporarily, just for that one battle. It was worth it. Don’t look down on yourself for thinking you chose a wrong reason to fight for.

There were millions of Equestrians who fought in the war, even if the majority of them were drafted, who chose to simply fight so they could come back to their own family and loved ones, even if they didn’t care about anypony else. As long as it aided Equestria, then you thought no wrong.” The other pony said.

I nodded to what they said. It helped. I mean, I already knew other ponies were fighting for reasons that wouldn’t help me in anyway, I just guess I needed to actually tell someone. I guess that’s what therapists are for though.

“Anyways Jurek. That’ll be it for today. A minute past the three-hour mark. I hope it helped you well.” The other pony said.

“It was. Thanks.” I replied.

We said our goodbyes and I left, the front desk person said I could schedule another meeting in two weeks again for three hours. I said I would and left. I got to my car and drove home.

The therapy was helping a lot. The pay I earned through the whole war was a lot, it’s not like saved up for some years straight with me not using it but it wasn’t enough to last forever. At least society had a lot of jobs slowly popping up for everyone who came back from the war. On top of that, society itself was very helpful towards the reintegration of all those who served.

Even with how many ponies died in the war, the destruction it caused, the amount of civilians who weren’t able to be saved;

Life was good.